Ikkyū Sōjun : Poems of Love

Lady Mori rides in a cart

In the phoenix cart, the blind girl often goes on spring outings. 
When my heart is oppressed, she likes to comfort my melancholy.

Even though most people make fun of her,
I love to see Mori, so fair a beauty she is.

Calling my hand Mori's hand 

My hand, how it resembles Mori's hand.
I believe the lady is the master of love play;
If I take ill, she can cure the jewelled stem.
And then they rejoice, the monks at my meeting.

Wishing to thank Mori for my Deep Debt to her

Ten years ago, under the flowers, I made a fragrant alliance;
One step more delight, affection without end.
I regret to leave pillowing my head on a girl's lap.
Deep in the night, cloud-rain, making the promise of past, present and future.

. . . . .

The love poems to and about the blind girl Mori are quite surprising. They are witnesses to a tender love. It is strange enough that it should be a Zen monk writing these poems, but that it should be a profligate Zen monk over seventy years of age experienced in all the wiles of debauchery is all the more incredible. It is obvious that this love preoccupied his heart for the last years of his life. 

~ Sonja Elaine Arntzen
The Poetry of the Kyounshu 'Crazy Cloud Anthology' of Ikkyū Sōjun

September Equinox
22 September 2021 19:21 UTC

there are two Equinoxes every year . . .
one in September and one in March

the September Equinox is the moment the Sun 'appears to cross' the celestial equator from North to South

we know . . .
the earth’s rotation causes day and night
the earth’s revolution creates the seasons 
and the earth’s tilt of approximately 23.5 degrees creates Opposite Seasons

so, during the the following months
this tilt will cause 
the South to face more directly towards the Sun 
and the North to face further away from the Sun

this video simulation was recorded on 22 September 2021 at 19:21 UTC
the time at which the Sun was directly above the celestial equator
note the terminator is a vertical line straight down

Equinox on a Spinning Earth shows seasonal changes for an entire year in twelve seconds

the way of heaven is like the flexing of a bow
the high it presses down
the low it raises
from those with a surplus it takes away
to those without enough it adds on
therefore the way of heaven
is to reduce the excessive and increase the insufficient
  ~ extract from Dao de Jing 77

may you have a wonderful year
may the ancestors shower you with wisdom

Paco de Lucia - Entre dos aguas (1976)

Miles Davis : Human Nature

Miles Davis – Live in Germany 1988 (Munich Philharmonic Concert Hall) 

Miles Davis – Trumpet

Kenny Garrett – Saxophone 

Bobby Irving – Keyboards 

Adam Holzman – Keyboards Joseph „Foley” 

Mccreary – Guitar 

Benjamin Rietveld – Bass 

Marilyn Mazur – Percussion 

Ricky Wellman – Drums

The Bravery of Being Out of Range
by Roger Waters

You have a natural tendency
To squeeze off a shot
You're good fun at parties
You wear the right masks
You're old but you still
Like a laugh in the locker room
You can't abide change
You're at home on the range

You opened your suitcase
Behind the old workings
To show off the magnum
You deafened the canyon
A comfort a friend
Only upstaged in the end
By the Uzi machine gun
Does the recoil remind you
Remind you of sex

Old man what the hell you gonna kill next
Old timer who you gonna kill next

I looked over Jordan and what did I see
Saw a U.S. Marine in a pile of debris
I swam in your pools
And lay under your palm trees
I looked in the eyes of the Indian
Who lay on the Federal Building steps

And through the range finder over the hill
I saw the frontline boys popping their pills
Sick of the mess they find
On their desert stage
And the bravery of being out of range
Yeah the question is vexed

Old man what the hell you gonna kill next
Old timer who you gonna kill next

Hey bartender over here
Two more shots
And two more beers
Sir turn up the TV sound
The war has started on the ground
Just love those laser guided bombs
They're really great
For righting wrongs
You hit the target
And win the game
From bars 3,000 miles away
3,000 miles away

We play the game
With the bravery of being out of range
We zap and maim
With the bravery of being out of range
We strafe the train
With the bravery of being out of range
We gained terrain
With the bravery of being out of range
With the bravery of being out of range
We play the game
With the bravery of being out of range

4 hours ago, Harmen said:

See for a study and translation of the Mawangdui Yijing and its commentaries I Ching (Classics of Ancient China): Shaughnessy, Edward: 9780345421128: Amazon.com: Books.

thank you  Harmen

. . . . .

From the Inside Flap

Book copied on silk, Zhou Yi (Book of Changes)

Medium：Silk
Date：Western Han (206 BCE-9 CE)
Dimensions:Length:30cm; width:21.5cm; height:48cm

Origin: Unearthed from Han Tomb No.3 at Mawangdui in 1973

Written in official script on a whole length of silk, it consists of both the text and the commentaries of Book of Changes. The text here refers to the Sixty-Four Hexagrams, but compared with traditionally-accepted modern and ancient editions, this version shows significant differences in the names of the trigrams as well as the sequence and statement of the trigrams and the statement of the lines.

For these reasons, it can be called another version of Book of Changes. Some experts believe that since the sequence of trigrams in this Book of Changes is rather simple, it should be considered a fairly early version and its date of being copied out should be the first years of the reign of Han Emperor Wendi. 

The commentaries are mostly anecdotes that have not passed down, and they record discussions and interpretations of the trigrams and lines between Confucias and his disciples. The arrangement of this Book of Changes copied on silk was made after careful consideration: it begins with the text, then moves on to the explanation of the text, the connotative commentaries and the records of events beyond the interpretation, and finally ends with sayings and epigrams by great masters who passed down the book.

If we look into the process of its creation and its early application, Book of Changes was originally a book on divination. It became an extensive and profound Chinese classic of philosophy and the oldest classic of oriental philosophy after Confucian scholars made philosophical interpretations of it. It became a book that explores and interprets the principles of such issues as the universe, human life, human spirit, and material. For a long time, it was honored as the foremost of the “six classics”, and is a canon of ancient Chinese social and natural science. Therefore, the thinking mode, philosophy of life and mathematic induction as embodied in Book of Changes have profoundly influenced and even dominated the thinking pattern and life attitude of people in China as well as in other countries within the Chinese cultural circle. In the development of natural science, it also has played the role of philosophical guidance. Book of Changes holds an incomparable position in China’s cultural history and remains a brightly-shining pearl in the history of world culture.

~ Hunan Museum

click here if you do not see embedded image

Book copied on silk, Laozi - Version B

Medium：Silk
Date：Western Han (206 BCE-9 CE)
Dimensions: Length: 79.5 cm; Width: 44 cm

Origin: Unearthed from Han Tomb No.3 at Mamangdui, Changsha, in 1973

This book on silk was discovered in the lower layer of an oblong lacquer cosmetic box found in the eastern case of the Tomb 3. It was copied onto a breadth of wide silk together with four ancient canons. As it was folded up, the book broke into 32 pieces when discovered. 

There are altogether 160000 Chinese characters in 152 lines, written with brush and ink. The book was copied in very neat early official script, making it a precious material for studying the change of the Chinese character and the art of calligraphy. As this version avoid the taboo of mentioning the name of Liu Bang but does not avoid mentioning the name of Liu Hui, Emperor Huidi, the time of its being copied should be during the reign of Emperor Huidi or Empress Lu. 

~ Hunan Museum

click here if you do not see embedded image

Book copied on silk, Laozi - Version A

Medium：Silk
Date：Western Han (206 BCE-9 CE)
Dimensions: Length: 317 cm; width: 25.2 cm
Origin: Unearthed from Tomb 3 at Mamangdui, Changsha, in 1973

The book was copied out in classical official script. The script was partially damaged, with many Chinese characters missing. The book, together with “The Yellow Emperor’s Four Canons” in four chapters following it, was written on half a breadth of silk. The extant version has 464 lines and more than 13000 Chinese characters. The book bears no chapter division, with “The Book of De” preceding “The Book of Dao”. As this version makes no avoidance of the taboo of mentioning the name of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, the taboo of the, the time of copying this book should be before the death of the Han founding emperor. Therefore, this is the earliest hand-copied version of “Lao Zi” and will greatly help us to see the authentic version of “Lao Zi” in the early Han Dynasty. Its discovery not only has important value for the collation of existing version of “Lao Zi” but also has provided the earliest and most reliable basis for further studying the thoughts of “Lao Zi”.

~ Hunan Museum

click here if you do not see embedded image

apparently the ahamkara mudra “will help  you strengthen your will to face difficulties without fear” [from the article mentioned above]

by the way, notice the left hand fingers 

the artist positioned the fingers in the manner in which (s)he did deliberately 

everything in the image is symbolic

Ahamkara Mudra

is the closest i could find

dont know how relevant it is 

maybe, someone with yoga background can explain

found this image and flipped it

see here for original article

5 hours ago, Nungali said:

my play is an ancient Greek tragedy

Ancient Greek Astronomy

https://bit.ly/3sUMW1V

5 hours ago, Nungali said:

23 hours ago, Ano Eremita said:

 

I get it

but it's an illusion/perception

 

But it can be a 'handy '  one .

i prefer ‘dawn’ and ‘dusk’

7 hours ago, Antares said:

Yaroslav Solohubov

thank you Antares

good teaching with breathing instructions

13 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

no one needs a ship to travel.

a breath of fresh air 

9 hours ago, Nungali said:

from Man’s perspective, he is stuck on Earth

i trust you won’t mind me saying so . . .

i agree, most humans are stuck on this planet

however, from the perspective of mankind, some have already walked on the moon, and others are planning to go to mars

and robots have gone way beyond sending back vistas never seen before

9 hours ago, Nungali said:

the 'reality' of local observations

I get it

but it's an illusion/perception

the reality is that when there is first light we call that morning and when there is last light 'the golden hour's we call that evening. and that is followed by darkness. and, all this happens because the earth rotates. the sun rises gives me the feeling of a flat earth. which reminds me of a sad incident . . .

on June 22, 1633, the church handed down the following order: “we pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo… have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this holy office of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the holy and divine scriptures) that the sun is the centre of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the centre of the world.”

p.s. wonderful to hear from you and about your play . all the best . be well

p.p.s. perhaps you will consider a 2021 judgement to offset the 1633 one 😀 in your play

Stomu Yamash'ta ‎– Red Buddha (1971)

Red Buddha 0:00

As Expanding As 15:20

Stomu Yamash'ta
metal strings, tambury, cymbal, musical saw & mandorin harp,

steel drum, marimba, cow bell, wood block & skin drum,

composer & arranger

this is where we are (a simulation) in SpaceTime today Wednesday 25 August 2021

interesting that all the planets are more or less on the same side
notice . . .

the curve formed by earth, jupiter, saturn, pluto
straight line venus, earth, uranus
straight line from earth mercury, sun, mars

incase you do not see the image embedded, go here https://bit.ly/38bb6vz

do you know what goes on below the surface . . .

15 hours ago, Ano Eremita said:

will watch both tomorrow

I like the Russian guy's (don't know his name) brevity and flow - like taichi

and I like the Shaolin guy's (Shi Heng Yi) longevity and holding the positions - like yoga

both appeal to me

eventually, I do my own thing 

thanks again Antares for another arrow in my quiver

20 minutes ago, Antares said:

shows the1st movement

viewed just a little . amazing !

i can feel/see the intensity in a simple move

i’ve subscribed to his channel

will watch both tomorrow - it’s night time here

thank you again

be well

p.s. the only Russian i understand is the music of Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, to mention just two - and the master conductor Valery Gergiev is my favourite - and Mariinsky online

25 minutes ago, Antares said:

OK. Here he talks about and shows the1st movement and then explaining that it should open MCO. 

hey Antares

grateful to you 🙏

1 minute ago, Antares said:

Do you understand Russian?

unfortunately not . 

but i would like to see him in motion

im a visual guy anyway

words don’t affect me as much as image (the practice) does

15 minutes ago, Antares said:

They call Ba Duan Jin as "8 gates of Primordial Qi"

i looked but cant find it

do you have a url